TechCity Solar
30 Oct 07 | GeneralI live near Kingston, NY. Just north of Kingston is a huge office complex called “TechCity” which is a former IBM computer manufacturing plant. The plant closed about 15 years ago during a consolidation. This left something like 2 million square feet of prime hardened office space vacant in northern Ulster County.
About 10 years ago, the plant and property was purchased by, Alan Ginsburg, a New York City real estate developer. Since then about 800,000 square feet of office space has been rented and there are several big clients in the office complex. All of this is good for the economy of Ulster County and the nearby City of Kingston.
When it was announced that they were opening The Solar Energy Consortium in TechCity, I found this very interesting. The SEC is described by US congressional representative Maurice Hinchey (D-New Paltz) the venture as a “not-for-profit solar consortium driven by industry - in collaboration with public, private, academic, environmental, labor and economic development partners - with the goal of creating fully integrated solar-powered systems that will revolutionize the way in which New Yorkers and all Americans receive their energy.” It is expected that venture will employ 300-500 people.
I am not sure how that will effect the ordinary solar installer, but it is good to know that something like that is coming to the area.
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Tags: photovoltaics, politics, solar power R and D
Solar Manufactures increase productivity
24 Oct 07 | General Business, Solar ElectricReading several articles about PV production and increases in silicon feed stock. The outlook is good that PV panels will be more abundant in the next few years, which will hopefully lead to some price reductions or at least price stabilization. From Evergreen Solar:
The Quad furnace technology will be used in Evergreen’s new 75 megawatt factory in Marlborough, Massachusetts. The furnace uses a String Ribbon process in which a set of parallel strings are pulled continuously through a small molten pool of silicon inside a custom furnace. A thin “ribbon” is created between the two strings as the silicon cools and re-crystallizes. The ribbon is then cut into wafers, which are converted into solar cells and used in the production of solar panels — all under one roof. Evergreen’s current String Ribbon technology produces two ribbons at one time, while the Quad creates four ribbons simultaneously.
Kyocera has also stepped up production by building new production facilities in several countries:
In order to respond to increasing demand, Kyocera focused on research to improve quality , when enduring a shortage of silicon. The Company has now secured a stable supply of silicon materials from several suppliers, and accordingly plans to expand manufacturing facilities in stages and steadily increase production.
Kyocera has already established local production and supply systems for solar modules in Japan, Europe, the United States and China, the four largest markets in the world, to respond rapid rise of demand in these areas. Along with the phased increase of solar cell production to 500MW, enabled by the stable supply of silicon materials, new factory wings will be constructed and additional manufacturing facilities will be installed at each of the four bases. Capital investments amounting to about 10 billion yen in total will be made for expansion and improvement of production systems in order to achieve 500MW annual production output in the end of March 2011.
China has also been stepping up it’s PV production. The Chinese government has plans for several large PV power stations in the north western desert regions. Several Chinese manufactures have begun to increase production to meet this demand, as well as to sell overseas.
Integrated photovoltaic (PV) product manufacturer Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd announced it has completed the first stage of its Phase III 500MW manufacturing expansion plan.
The newly finished production lines add 100MW of total production capacity of polysilicon wafers, PV cells and PV modules. Yingli started trial production of polysilicon ingots from the new lines on June 1 and following detailed testing and certain modifications, recently launched production at full capacity.
Provided the economic and political conditions remain stable, this should be a boon to the growing PV industry here in the US. If oil prices continue to climb toward the $100.00 dollar per barrel mark, there may be a shortage of qualified solar installers.
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Tags: economy, manufacturing, photovoltaics
The power of Manure
20 Oct 07 | Bio Gas, Commentary, EnvironmentI have a friend who has a house in Burlington, VT. A few days ago he was telling me about a farm where all the cow manure is collected and held in an anaerobic digester to create methane gas (CH4) which is then burned by electrical generators and fed into the power grid. I found this article which talks about it a little more:
Seven-hundred St. Albans cows will make more than milk today–they’ll make electricity.
“Cow Power is an opportunity for farmers to significantly reduce their environmental impact while creating clean, renewable energy. Like the emergence of automated milking and the bulk milk tank decades ago, CVPS Cow Power has the potential to change the way Vermont dairy farms do business. This will make our farm stronger.”
–David Montagne, Farm Owner
The Dave and Cathy Montagne Farm will become the latest to join the CVPS Cow Power program today, generating electricity from cow manure and helping to solve numerous environmental challenges in the process. They have the capacity to handle manure from up to 1,200 cows.The farm produces over 15 million pounds of milk a year, and is expected to produce 1.4 million kilowatt-hours (KWh) of electricity a year.
To create energy, manure and other agricultural waste are held in a sealed concrete tank at the same temperature as a cow’s stomach, 101 degrees. Bacteria digest the volatile components, creating methane and killing pathogens and weed seeds. The methane, which is roughly 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere, fuels an engine/generator.
CVPS customers can choose to receive all, half or a quarter of their electrical energy through Cow Power, and pay a premium of 4 cents per KWh. It goes to participating farm-producers, to purchase renewable energy credits when enough farm energy isn’t available, or to the CVPS Renewable Development Fund. The fund provides grants to farm owners to develop on-farm generation. Farm-producers are also paid 95 percent of the market price for all of the energy sold to CVPS.
“Cow Power is an opportunity for farmers to significantly reduce their environmental impact while creating clean, renewable energy,” farm owner David Montagne said. “Like the emergence of automated milking and the bulk milk tank decades ago, CVPS Cow Power has the potential to change the way Vermont dairy farms do business. This will make our farm stronger.”
This is really a great way to handle several problems. Methane is 20 times the greenhouse gas that CO2 is. Since all cows produce manure, and all manure produces methane when it breaks down, this is one very effective way of eliminating agricultural greenhouse gas production.
Even if the methane was simply burned it would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The fact that it is used to turn a generator and thus eliminate some of the electrical load makes it even more attractive. By the way, almost any gasoline engine can burn methane with a few simple modifications, which means that this could type of system could power cars, light trucks, etc.
For the farmer, the problem of getting rid of the manure is taken care of. After anaerobic digestion, all that is left is a brownish black nitrogen rich crumbly substance that can be used to compost gardens and lawns.
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Tags: bio digestion, Bio Gas, Environment
Peak Oil
18 Oct 07 | CommentaryAh, ehm. Not to be an alarmist or anything, but have you seen the price of oil lately? West Texas crude was selling at $90.00 per barrel today. That’s higher than the post Hurricane Katrina levels when a gallon of gas was $3.60. The price of gas today? Oh, $2.86 per gallon, which I find strange. Does this mean there was massive gouging after Hurricane Katrina? I dunno, but it seems likely.
The reasons for today’s rise is the weakening dollar, which has caused speculators from other countries to buy oil with cheap with hope to sell higher when the dollar rebounds. This has created a supply squeeze, which has made priced go up. Most of this seems like market manipulation of one form or another, which is to be expected as lots and lots of money can be made.
There are many dire predictions about Peak Oil and the end of cheap energy. Most see some form of resource competition or conflict, which I believe is already taking place in Iraq. Additionally, a general rise in prices across the board as fossil fuels supply the energy and raw materials for almost everything we depend on. Fortunately, the world will not simply run out of oil. The production of oil is based on a bell curve, that shows a steady predicable decline. That is if the geologists are right about the oil reserves, and countries and governments are telling the truth about the amount of oil still in the ground. There may indeed be some very turbulent times, but I do not think it will be the end of the world as we know it. That is, provided we begin to plan now.
There are many on the political right that pooh-pooh peak oil and the notion that we need to start moving away from fossil fuel use. These will cite all sorts of reasons why it is not a concern, we need not worry about the environment and so on. That is an imprudent course of action. Unfortunately, many of these are in the military or defense contractor sectors. Often as is the case, these types think that a strong defense will keep any and all harm away from them or the country. This is a mistake that has played out time and time again though history; Think of Greece, Rome, etc.
Right now, there exists an opportunity to take a huge step in the right direction. The US congress (House and Senate) are trying to compromise on the 2007 energy bill. This bill has a lot of great things for the renewable energy sector. It needs to pass both houses of congress with a veto proof majority, otherwise the President will veto it and we will be back to square one again. If you have a chance, contact your Senator or Representative and let them know how important it is to move ahead with renewable energy. There are two websites that make it easy. The first is SaveOurEnvironment.org and the other is Solar Nation. Both sites have online forms that can be filled out and emailed directly to your Senator and Representative.
Regardless of any of that, the more expensive oil and natural gas become, the more attractive renewable energy systems will become. This will be good for those involved in the renewable energy sector as more and more people turn to things like solar and small wind to meet there energy needs.
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Tags: Environment, peak oil
To sell on line or not to sell on line
17 Oct 07 | General BusinessI am currently debating on whether or not to have an online renewable energy store. It seems like quite a bit of work to set up, and there would also be some liability issues associated with retail sales of renewable energy products, especially wind equipment.
On the other hand, it may be a good side income stream, particularly if I can get the manufactures/distributors to drop ship directly to the customer (that way I am not actually handling the merchandise).
There are currently several retail online renewable energy stores. When I compare there online prices to the wholesale prices I am getting from distributors, I can see about a 8-10 percent markup. Not too bad considering that there is minimal overhead.
The other downside I can see would be customer returns and restocking. Also, I have seen quite a few shady characters in my life. There are likely more than a handful that would likely try create some scam or something.
The other question is how much time would be taken up with answering customer questions? Obviously, the online sales would be mostly to do it yourselfer’s. This could mean that they would expect someone to tell them step by step on how to do a solar installation. They may also install the equipment wrong, damage it, et cetera, then expect a refund.
Likely I will have a product feature section, which introduces the equipment to potential customers, but not necessarily sell directly to the public unless I am going to install it as well. I think that is the best compromise.
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Tags: Business administration, marketing, on line store, web site development